50 Fun Facts About Timmy Failure

Total, the lazy business partner of boy detective Timmy Failure, is what kind of 1,500-pound animal?

A polar bear called Total supplies half the name of the agency, Total Failure Inc. Readers still argue over whether he is real or a figment of Timmy's imagination.

The Failuremobile that Timmy Failure borrows from his mother in Mistakes Were Made is really what vehicle?

A Segway belonging to his mom is the grandly named Failuremobile. Losing it becomes the biggest mystery of the first book.

Timmy Failure author Stephan Pastis is best known for which long-running newspaper comic strip?

Pearls Before Swine made Stephan Pastis famous long before Timmy arrived. He says the tight space of a daily strip taught him the value of every word.

The Timmy Failure books mix a boy's narration with cartoons, a format modeled on which popular children's series?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid set the template. One reviewer noted that, like its hero Greg, Timmy isn't always likable: he is rude to friends and mean to imagined enemies.

Which classmate does Timmy Failure treat as his nemesis and refuse even to name in Mistakes Were Made?

Corrina Corrina is the girl Timmy calls his nemesis. In the film version she is friendly to him and seems unaware that any feud exists.

Which best friend of Timmy Failure is so obsessed with getting into "Stanfurd" that he botches a spy mission?

Rollo Tookus is the grade-obsessed friend Timmy keeps dragging into cases. In the prequel he acts as Timmy's biographer and adds exasperated footnotes.

In Timmy Failure: Sanitized for Your Protection, a road trip ends in which city, where Doorman Dave is moving?

Chicago is where Doorman Dave, the boyfriend of Timmy's mother, is relocating. Timmy resents the journey because it interrupts a case he wants to crack.

The film Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, directed by Tom McCarthy, was released on which streaming service?

Disney+ released the film in February 2020, a few months after the service launched. It was pulled in 2023 and later reissued on video-on-demand platforms.

Before creating Timmy Failure, cartoonist Stephan Pastis spent nearly a decade in the Bay Area working as what?

A lawyer by training, Pastis defended insurance cases from 1993 to 2002 and disliked the work. He sketched his first comic character during a dull class at law school.

The film Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is set in which American city, where it was also filmed?

Portland is both the setting and the main filming location, with cameras rolling there in the summer of 2018. Its bearded hipsters are the Russians Timmy believes he is outwitting.

In Mistakes Were Made, Gunnar's brother gives Timmy Failure which alibi when some sweets go missing?

He was eating candy, the brother says, and Timmy is stumped despite the wrappers strewn all around. It is early proof that he is a terrible sleuth.

A classmate with a crush pelts Timmy Failure's bedroom window with which chocolates in Mistakes Were Made?

Hershey's Kisses hit the glass as the lovestruck girl tries to win his attention. She also tells Timmy she adores him and, in one chapter, hugs him.

During a group test in Mistakes Were Made, how does Timmy Failure misuse the Scantron answer bubbles?

Drawing dot-to-dot pictures with the bubbles drags down the whole group's score. Timmy also sketches his agency's future offices on the classroom world map.

Which name does Timmy Failure write on his test papers in Mistakes Were Made, reasoning it is the world's most common?

Chang goes on all his papers because Timmy figures the odds are with him. Logic like that is why he risks being held back a grade.

In Mistakes Were Made, Timmy Failure is baffled to catch Flo, the fearsome-looking librarian, reading which poet?

Emily Dickinson is the surprise, since Timmy insists Flo reads only about crushing things with his fists. One reviewer likened Flo to a Hells Angel.

Señor Burrito, a cat in Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, dunks a paw into what whenever Timmy looks away?

His tea is the target: Señor Burrito sits with one paw sunk past the elbow in the teacup. A reviewer longed to tear out the illustration and frame it.

Which make of car plows through a wall into a teacher's living room in Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made?

A Cadillac careers out of control and ends up in the living room, yet Timmy walks away without a scratch. The man dating his mom drives one.

What nickname does Timmy Failure give Mr. Jenkins, the teacher who appeals to his imagination in Mistakes Were Made?

New Guy is Timmy's name for Mr. Jenkins, who turns learning into something the boy can relate to. In the film the character becomes a school counselor instead.

In Mistakes Were Made, Timmy Failure's business-speak narration says he does what with his mother instead of talking?

Teleconferences is his word for an ordinary chat with Mom. Timmy also believes his agency is on the verge of joining the Fortune 500.

In Now Look What You've Done, Timmy Failure and his mother move into a mansion belonging to which relative?

His great-aunt Colander takes them in while his mom is out of work. Eccentric and ambitious, she becomes Timmy's unlikely new ally.

The school detective contest in Timmy Failure: Now Look What You've Done asks who stole which object?

A globe belonging to the principal is the staged theft, complete with suspects and clues. Timmy is sure the $500 prize will set him up for life.

Which injury does Timmy Failure suffer twice in quick succession in Now Look What You've Done?

A broken leg strikes twice: he breaks the left one almost as soon as the cast comes off the right. The slapstick also costs a window and some topiary.

In Timmy Failure: We Meet Again, which legendary nature project that earned an A+++++ does Timmy hunt for?

The Miracle Report is the fabled assignment Timmy believes will rescue his grade. Rumors of plagiarism soon sweep the school.

In Timmy Failure: We Meet Again, Timmy's mother makes him play which sport and then dates his coach?

Baseball is forced on Timmy, and his mom ends up dating the coach. She sees two men in this book, and both play large roles in his life.

Which gadget belonging to his mother does Timmy Failure often ride around on in We Meet Again?

A Roomba, his mom's robot vacuum, carries him through the third book. He barrels through life on it with little thought for others, yet classmates keep trying to connect with him.

Timmy Failure begins We Meet Again under which school penalty, with a principal waiting for him to slip up?

Academic probation hangs over Timmy all book, so a bad mark on his nature assignment could sink him. Worse, he must do it with his archrival.

The road trip in Timmy Failure: Sanitized for Your Protection eats up which school holiday Timmy wanted for sleuthing?

Spring break vanishes because his mother makes him help her boyfriend, Doorman Dave, move house. Molly Moskins and her family come along for the ride.

What has been stolen in the case Timmy Failure tries to solve on the road in Sanitized for Your Protection?

Charity money raised by a group called YIP YAP has vanished. It was meant to buy books for a bookless boy named Yergi Plimkin.

Before handing back what she stole in Sanitized for Your Protection, Molly Moskins forces Timmy Failure to do what?

Dance with her is the price Molly sets, and Timmy is not impressed. She had been his prime suspect in the case.

In Sanitized for Your Protection, Timmy Failure's sidekick Total leaves a trail of wrappers from which sweet treat?

Bonbons are Total's weakness, and their papers mark his path of destruction along the route. One review wondered whether he would spend all the agency's hard-earned money on chocolate.

In Sanitized for Your Protection, Timmy Failure overhears his mother and Doorman Dave discussing which big step?

Getting married is the plan Timmy overhears, and it rattles him. Two books later he doubts the wedding even happened, having fainted during it.

Why is Total no longer an official partner in Timmy Failure's agency at the start of Sanitized for Your Protection?

He was fired, which is why the firm is now plain Failure Inc. Total still tags along on the road trip regardless.

In Sanitized for Your Protection, Timmy Failure says criminal mastermind Molly Moskins smells like which fruit?

A tangerine is the scent Timmy pins on Molly Moskins, whom he suspects of masterminding crimes. In the film version she simply has a crush on him.

In The Book You're Not Supposed to Have, which event at school threatens to wreck Timmy Failure's education?

A teachers' strike cripples his schooling in the fifth book, which also involves a Merry, a Larry and a missing tooth. Timmy is banned from sleuthing too.

In Timmy Failure: The Cat Stole My Pants, Total deserts Timmy and flees to which country?

Cuba is where Total runs off, seeking political asylum. Timmy has to take on a boy as an unpaid intern to replace him.

Which nephew of Doorman Dave becomes Timmy Failure's unpaid intern in The Cat Stole My Pants?

Emilio Empanada is brought along to keep Timmy company and is soon put to work on lighthouse infiltration, pirating and book sales.

What is unusual about the cat that steals Timmy Failure's trousers in The Cat Stole My Pants?

It has six toes, and it is only one of his troubles: someone is also sending Timmy threatening notes. The chapter titles riff on Hemingway titles.

Which family member does Timmy Failure meet for the first time in The Cat Stole My Pants?

His father turns up as the story's surprise newcomer. He is back in the final volume, working at a bar, and Timmy decides he must be a secret agent.

In It's the End When I Say It's the End, which sky event does Timmy Failure take as a sign to retire?

A solar eclipse convinces Timmy the gods want him to quit sleuthing and help Total, who is missing his brother.

In The Cat Stole My Pants, Timmy Failure infiltrates a lighthouse on a family trip to which Florida city?

Key West hosts the sixth book, where Timmy sells books and plays pirate to fund his sleuthing. He also dreads whatever lurks in the butterfly conservancy.

What job does Timmy Failure get on his class's movie project in It's the End When I Say It's the End?

Writing the script for the whole film falls to Timmy, and then the finished screenplay disappears. A pretentious new student is put in charge of directing it.

The prequel Timmy Failure: Zero to Hero promises to reveal how Timmy got which trademark piece of clothing?

His red scarf gets an origin story in the prequel, which also shows how Timmy first met Total. It arrived after the seven main books and the film.

Which publisher released the first seven Timmy Failure books before the prequel went to a rival house?

Candlewick Press issued the seven books from 2013 to 2018, launching the first with a $250,000 marketing campaign.

Timmy Failure film director Tom McCarthy had earlier made which newsroom drama that won the Best Picture Oscar?

Spotlight also won McCarthy a screenwriting Oscar. He wrote the Timmy Failure film with Stephan Pastis and Benjamin Pestana.

The film Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made had its world premiere in January at which American festival?

Sundance hosted the premiere on January 25, 2020, about two weeks before the film reached viewers at home.

Which young actor plays the title role in the film Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made?

Winslow Fegley stars as Timmy, with Ophelia Lovibond as his mother, Patty. A second, younger actor plays him at age four.

Which comedy actor plays Mr. Jenkins, the school counselor who earns Timmy Failure's trust in the film?

Craig Robinson plays the counselor, who gets Timmy to do his homework by calling it a mission. He also urges him to learn from his mistakes.

In the film Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, where had the missing Failuremobile been the whole time?

In a police impound: it had been taken for sitting in a no-parking zone. Timmy concludes the officers must be working with the Russians.

Which famous cartoonist did Timmy Failure author Stephan Pastis approach at a Santa Rosa ice rink for advice?

Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, let the stranger sit at his table and gave him tips for an hour. Pastis later joined the board of the Schulz museum.

In the film Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, where does a saddened Timmy leave Total after his agency is shut down?

At the zoo is where Timmy says goodbye, believing he must become normal. He later talks his mom's boyfriend into helping him get Total back.